Chocolate Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Sour Cream Ganache

I love baking for people, it is so much fun to create something to share with people. I made this devil’s food cake for a friend’s birthday at work. I am always looking for a recipe that is different and unique and inspiring. I have used this recipe in another post, but I feel like the rough photo I had didn’t do this amazing recipe justice!

This recipe is really easy and is always received well. I bought a few new piping tips and I am having a play with the different looks. I have recently made 130 cupcakes for my sister’s engagement party, so I am starting to get much more uniform in my icing. I was also playing with different ideas for the photography (I am very much stumbling through!).

This is my absolute favourite chocolate cake! The cake is beautiful and rich without being too heavy or over the top. The cake is still light and the ganache really makes the recipe amazing. The recipe was for a full sized layer cake, but it makes about 36 cupcakes, depending on the size of the patties used. I make a lot of ganache icing for various recipes, but the sour cream really gives the chocolate a stand out flavour. I often enjoy the washing up after this cake…

Devil’s Food Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cake:

• 1 cup of boiling water
• 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of whole milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of unsalted butter (250g), softened
• 1 1/4 cups of packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup of castor sugar
• 4 large eggs

For the sour cream ganache:

• 2 cups of dark chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups of sour cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Method:

 

For the cakes:

Preheat the oven to 180’C and line muffin tins with decorative patties. This mixture will make more than 12 cupcakes because it is a full cake recipe~ 36 cupcakes. (If making a cake- grease and line 3x 20cm cake tins with baking paper.)

Whisk together boiling water and cocoa powder in a bowl until smooth, then whisk in the milk and vanilla. Set aside. In another bowl sift the flour, baking soda and salt.

With an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar (both brown and castor) until pale and fluffy, the add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In alternating batches, add the flour and cocoa mixtures, starting and ending with the flour mixture. (The batter will look curdled- but this is NORMAL!)

Divide batter into the tins (if making a whole cake use 3x 20cm round tins and smooth the tops). Bake the cupcakes for about 16 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (20-25 minutes for a cake). Once out of the oven, cool completely.

 

For the sour cream ganache:

Melt the chocolate using a double boiler, once melted remove the top bowl from the heat and whisk in the sour cream then vanilla. (I find that this can be really tricky to not split, I find that mixing really quickly helps and also making sure that the sour cream is at room temperature makes a big difference). Let the ganache come to room temperature and stir occasionally to ensure it remains that beautiful, shiny appearance.

 

Assembly:

With a piping bag, pipe the sour cream ganache to the top and decorate the tops to suit your tastes!